In Stardew Valley, there is much more to do than just farming, and there are five main skills that need to be improved throughout your time playing this game. Foraging is a skill that will grow when you pick up items in the Stardew Valley map. For example, collecting sap, cutting trees, etc. The players might feel a bit confused about picking the Stardew Valley forager or gatherer. 
As you continue to forage for items, the player’s foraging skills will continue to grow, unlocking professions once you have reached level 5. Now, what are the best foraging professions you should pick in this game? Here’s an outline of each Foraging profession in Stardew Valley. 
About The Foraging Professions
Before you start considering either the Forager or the Gatherer profession, there is something that you need to know. The Foraging skill isn’t about picking forageables only. The skill is also involved in several activities, including cutting down trees. 
Using the axe itself can help increase the skill. And after leveling it up a lot of times, you can use much less energy to complete the process.  With better tool proficiency, the character will use less energy to use certain tools. 
Level 5 Foraging Professions
Once you reach skill level 5 in` foraging, you will be able to choose between a forester or a gatherer. Whichever step you take, you will be able to change down the line, but you will be able to start professionally learning the profession you picked with the townsfolk. At Level 5 Foraging, you will be given two options of profession: forester or gatherer in Stardew Valley. Each profession you take will branch into its advanced version. You will get another profession choice in Level 10. 
ForesterOne of the professions in foraging in Stardew is Forester. As the name tells you, this profession will give certain benefits related to trees. If you choose the profession, your character may cut the stumps, logs, or trees easily, with a chance of getting 25% more wood.
This profession is great, especially when the game requires you to collect so much wood for building and upgrading.
GathererAnother profession option aside from Forester is Gatherer. This profession will make it easier for you to gather the materials. What’s great about it is that the player will have a 20% chance to pick items at double the amount. In 1 out of 5 chances, you can grab two copies of the same forageable. 
This can be more than helpful in the early game. Focus on picking the Spring Onions or mushrooms to sell. Doing so will grant you a hefty sum of money to buy things in the early part of the game. 
Level 10 Profession Options—Gatherer
If once you are level 5, you picked the gatherer, this opens doors to a few different professions down the line, these are:
BotanistThe forageable items you pick may have different qualities, and they’re pretty randomized. A better quality forageable item will sell for more gold compared to the ones with lower qualities. Having Botanist as your profession will make sure that each item you pick will be of higher quality.
The chance is 20%, which is pretty high. The effect applies to all the items, including Truffles. So when picking it, you will have a guaranteed Iridium quality.
TrackerAs for Tracker, the perk you will get from it might not be as useful. It simply shows an arrow that will point you to the nearest forageable items. Additionally, it will also show you the location of nearby artifact spots and shining spots. Other than that, the profession doesn’t have any other interesting function.
Level 10 Professions—Forester
Now that we have seen the Stardew Valley botanist or tracker, we want to discuss the profession options you will get when choosing Forester. There are two of them: Lumberjack and Tapper, and each comes with its own unique perks.
LumberjackOnce you reach Level 10 of Foraging, you will be given the option to pick either Lumberjack or Tapper if you previously chose Forester. Lumberjack is a very useful profession as it makes it possible for the players to get Hardwood from any tree.
You can basically cut down some trees on your farm and get some Hardwood in the process. With the Lumberjack profession, you don’t have to go to the Secret Woods just to farm some.
TapperTapper is mostly useful for players who have already made or built some Tappers. The unique perk from this profession is the ability to sell syrup for 25% more gold. This includes all types of syrup, including the Oak Resin, Maple Syrup, and Pine tar.
Although these items are rare and mostly used for crafting, you can still sell them for a good amount of gold.
Increasing The Foraging Levels
You may be thinking, How can I increase my foraging levels? And this is quite simple, you will have to cut a lot of trees and collect the forageable items. Doing that solo may get boring too soon, as you don’t have anything else to do other than doing the chore. 
The game, however, offers an additional way to play. It’s the multiplayer mode. The players can now play with others in the same valley. That way, the game will be more fun as you will have someone to play with. 
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FAQs
Either one may suit your style more than the other, so whichever perks are better for your play style, you should pick. But generally, we recommend choosing Gatherer. Having the ability to collect 2 higher quality forageable items is surely great.
It’s Botanist, as you can increase the item quality. Tracker, on the other hand, is not really useful.
We think it’s Lumberjack because you can get Hardwood from basically any tree. A very useful 
skill for any player!